


smoke

by ghosthunter



Series: sweat, saltwater, surfboard wax [5]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fraternity, Alternate Universe - Surfers, M/M, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 08:05:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12054786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghosthunter/pseuds/ghosthunter
Summary: Zhenya knows that Nick and Marcus’s lease is up in July, after Nick graduates, and he thinks that Sasha is just waiting it out until they can move in together. Zhenya does not suggest that he and Nick just switch apartments, even though it would be pretty logical.So some mornings Zhenya shuffles out of bed to head to class and Marcus is asleep on the sofa.





	smoke

**Author's Note:**

> everyone got their moment in the sun in this verse and now it's done so thanks for reading and thanks for everyone who put up with me during this trial, especially lanie and donya tbh.

**from kuzy @ 20:24**  
sasha just leave for ur apartment

**from kuzy @ 20:25**  
want 2 giv u heads up

**to kuzy @ 21:16**  
ugh no crash at urs?

**to kuzy @ 21:16**  
pls say ur still awake

**from kuzy @ 21:36**  
leave door unlocked 4 u

 

For Zhenya, having Sasha in the states is like having three roommates, but only part of the time. Sasha’s supposed to be finding a place of his own, but he really spends most of his time at Nick’s, which is fine, because Zhenya only has one bedroom, and that bedroom is his and it’s sacred. There are very few days when Zhenya comes home from work or from class and finds Sasha on his couch - the ideal is to find Sasha in his kitchen, but he knows better than to hold his breath for that one.

Sometimes he comes home and both Sasha and Nick are there, and Zhenya is never really sure why, because they had definitely better not be having sex on his couch. Or even considering having sex on his couch. Zhenya definitely would never have sex on Nick’s couch. Or Sasha’s couch, if Sasha had a couch, which Sasha does not.

Other times, Sasha is at Nick’s and Marcus seeks refuge on Zhenya’s couch, having once upon a time said to him, “dude, if I have to hear Nick’s sex noises one more fucking time I’m going to kill myself,” which Zhenya thinks is probably fair.

Zhenya knows that Nick and Marcus’s lease is up in July, after Nick graduates, and he thinks that Sasha is just waiting it out until they can move in together. Zhenya does not suggest that he and Nick just switch apartments, even though it would be pretty logical.

So some mornings Zhenya shuffles out of bed to head to class and Marcus is asleep on the sofa, still wearing his work uniform slacks, stripped down to the t-shirt he wears underneath his work uniform shirt. He wakes up as Zhenya’s puttering around the kitchen, grabbing breakfast before he leaves, stretching until his t-shirt rides up over his stomach before settling back down with a sigh.

“Sorry,” he says. He always says that he’s sorry, after he crashes on Zhenya’s couch. It’s cute, but Zhenya doesn’t think he has anything to be sorry for.

Marcus finally gets up while Zhenya is eating breakfast, running his hands through his hair before putting his shoes on and grabbing his uniform shirt. “Thanks for letting me crash,” he says.

“Anytime,” Zhenya says around a mouthful of cereal.

 

 

Marcus doesn’t actually want to go to the graduation party at the frat house, but the thing is (the thing is!) TJ and Carly have graduated, and it’s a big deal. Nicke’s going too, and since he, too, has graduated. Suddenly Marcus has obligations.

They’re not obligations that mean he’s gonna let TJ beat him at beer pong, fuck that, he’s got a reputation to maintain. It’s almost not fair, because he’s pretty sure TJ has been drinking since the graduation ceremony ended, and he’s not quite to the wide-eyed, empty look people get when they’ve had too much to drink, but only just. He couldn’t sink a ball in any of Marcus’s cups to save his life.

“You’re cheating!” Carly is yelling, which, Marcus technically isn’t. He bounces a ball hard off the table and lands it in the front cup. “Cheating!”

“You just bad at game!” Alex yells. He’s drunk too, and Nicke’s drunk, because Nicke’s done with school and that almost makes Marcus wish he hadn’t changed his major and tacked time onto his education.

“Don’t be mad because your boyfriend’s so drunk he has no game,” Marcus says, and TJ’s supposed to be drinking the cup that the ball’s just landed in, but Carly’s reached out and taken it from him to toss it back himself. “Hey, now who’s cheating?”

“I’m not taking him to the hospital on graduation night,” Carly says.

“To be fair,” Nicke says, his words slurred and his hand in Alex’s back pocket, “None of us are taking him to the hospital.”

Marcus probably could, at this point, because he hasn’t been drinking since the early afternoon, but he’s going to let it slide because he doesn’t want any of his friends to die tonight. Kuzy wanders in from another room, and Marcus catches a whiff of weed off him and - hey, that would be nice, smoke up, get a little cross-faded.

“Kuz,” he says. “Come be my partner, since TJ is cheating.”

“I _told_ you, he’s gonna die if he drinks all his cups,” Carly protests.

“We’ll play pairs,” Marcus says. “Come on.” He reaches out and pulls Kuzy over to stand next to him at the table. Alex reaches out and takes the cup out of Kuzy’s hand, sniffs it, then takes a drink. He makes a face.

“Bad American vodka,” he says. Kuzy grins at him, then shrugs before turning back to Marcus.

“I’m not play game before,” he says, as Marcus hands him one of the balls.

“I’ll teach you all my secrets,” Marcus tells him. “Good Swedish beer pong secrets, passed down from generation to generation.”

“I taught you to play beer pong,” Nicke says, frowning.

“Yes,” Marcus says slowly. “And now you’ve graduated and I’m still in school. Generations!”

“That’s not - “ Nicke says, but Alex is laughing, so he just presses his lips into a line and glares.

“I’m take good Swedish secrets, and make them better. Then they good Russian secrets,” Kuzy says. Marcus reaches out and takes his hand, moving Kuzy’s fingers on the pong ball.

“Okay, so it works best if you hold it like this, and then - “ Marcus mimes flicking his wrist. Kuzy mimics it, and the ball goes in. He and Marcus both start yelling - and so does Carly.

“Are you _fucking_ kidding me?” Carly yells, going so high pitched that his voice cracks. He snatches the cup off the table and chugs it, then throws the empty cup right at Marcus. He misses, because empty party cups aren’t exactly aerodynamic, and Marcus just laughs at him.

“I told you, ancient Swedish beer pong secrets,” Marcus says.

“I bet he can’t do it again,” Carly says.

“Actual money?” Marcus says.

“Ten bucks,” Carly says. Marcus hands Kuzy another of the ping pong balls.

“You’re on,” Marcus says.

“Lot of pressure,” Kuzy says.

“You’re the one that’s giving him ten bucks if you can’t do it,” Marcus tells him. Kuzy makes a face.

“I’m not agreeing to bet. You agreeing to bet,” Kuzy says.

“But you’re the one that’s gonna win or lose it,” Marcus says. 

Kuzy sighs, then shrugs. “Sasha, I’m need my drink.”

Alex passes the cup he took from Kuzy back, and Kuzy drains it, then shakes his head like he’s a wet dog. He makes a couple of practice motions with his wrist, then tosses the ball.

Carly’s wordless yell of rage nearly drowns out Marcus’s shout of “pay up, asshole!” Kuzy flexes, and Marcus reaches out and spins him around in glee.

“I created a monster,” Nicke says, to no one in particular.

Alex laughs at him.

 

 

Sasha and Nick move in together in July, when Nick and Marcus’s lease is up. Zhenya knows that it’s what they wanted, but privately, Marcus vents to him because he’s frustrated by the fact that he now also has to move, because he can’t cover the rent on his own and he doesn’t want to live with a stranger.

That’s how Zhenya ends up taking over Nick’s half of the lease, and he moves in the weekend after Nick moves out. Marcus isn’t even there, because it’s the weekend, and there’s no way he doesn’t wait tables on the weekends when he has the opportunity to make the most money.

They’re actually not in the apartment at the same time until Tuesday night, because Zhenya works in the morning, and Marcus works in the evenings. Zhenya’s sitting on the floor, books and notes spread out on the coffee table in front of him for his summer course spread out in front of him when Marcus comes home, his hair still wet from the ocean.

“Pizza?” he asks, and Zhenya nods enthusiastically. There’s a brief debate over whether they should have sausage or pepperoni, and Zhenya nixes mushrooms all together. Marcus orders, then goes to shower before the pizza comes.

After, they sit on the couch, passing a joint between them as a baseball game plays on tv. Neither of them really gets it, but it’s either that or arguing over something to watch on Netflix, and both of them are too tired for that.

“Thanks, by the way,” Marcus says. Zhenya holds the joint out to him, and he takes it.

“For what?” Zhenya asks.

“For moving in? So I didn’t have to find somewhere else,” Marcus says.

“Oh,” Zhenya says. “I’m almost suggesting it to Sasha earlier in year, ‘cause he at here so much, and you at my place.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Marcus says.

“No, we friends, I’m help you out so you not have to listen to Sasha’s sex noises,” Zhenya says. Marcus laughs, then takes a drag off the joint. It’s nearly gone, and Zhenya feels like he could just curl up and take a nap. Maybe curl up right against Marcus, warm and sleepy, chill. Watch this stupid baseball game, which is making him want to take a nap anyway.

“Well,” Marcus says, exhaling toward the ceiling. “I’ll try and keep my sex noises to a minimum.” Zhenya laughs at that, and Marcus passes the joint back, then gets up. “I’m getting more pizza.”

“Could eat more,” Zhenya says. Marcus gets up and heads into the kitchen, barefoot in basketball shorts and a threadbare t-shirt. He comes back with two more slices of pizza, just carrying them, and hands one to Zhenya before flopping back down onto the couch.

“You wanna go surfing with me in the morning? Before you have to go to work or class or whatever,” Marcus asks. Zhenya’s not great at surfing, and he doesn’t super care for getting out of bed any earlier than he necessarily has to, but he figures hey, why not, and he shrugs.

“Okay,” he says, then eats his pizza.

 

 

One of the clubs on campus does a haunted house every year for Halloween, and Nicke promises someone that he’s going to go, and that means that he’s dragging Alex, and Alex starts twisting Kuzy’s arm, and Kuzy in turn twists Marcus’s, and all four of them end up at the event on a Thursday night just before Halloween.

They go through in groups, going from room to room in near darkness. Nicke slams into Marcus at one point trying to get away from a body that dodges out of the shadows and nearly knocks into him. All of them would pretend that they’re not scared if asked, but there’s something to be said about a body coming toward you out of nowhere in the dark.

Which is precisely how Marcus ends up yelping and grabbing onto Kuzy, who in turn yelps and grabs back onto Marcus, and neither is interested in letting go, moving through the last through rooms as a unit. Strength in numbers.

They get back out onto the sidewalk and Nicke leans against the wall, running his hands through his hair.

“Was your idea,” Alex says before any of them even say anything.

“I want to state for the record that being startled is not the same as being scared,” Nicke says. “And I don’t like strangers touching me in the dark.”

“Fair,” says Marcus, who is still holding onto Kuzy. Where “holding onto” literally means they’re holding hands. They’re holding hands with their fingers laced together.

“So,” Nicke says, looking pointedly at their hands, then back up to make eye contact with Marcus. “This is a thing?”

Neither of them says anything, because it’s not a thing, but neither of them is letting go, either. He thinks about when Kuzy first moved in, all the times they’ve end up snuggled against each other on the couch, stoned and lazy, and he realizes that he kind of wants to be holding onto Kuzy’s hand.

“Maybe it is,” Marcus finally says. Kuzy shrugs, but he also squeezes Marcus’s hand.

They end up back at Marcus and Kuzy’s, sitting around drinking. Since Alex’s job performs random drug tests, Marcus and Kuzy end up sitting on the porch to smoke. Kuzy wraps one of the blankets from the couch around himself and sits down, holding his arms out with the blanket in his hands like a bat. Marcus shrugs and lets himself be folded in, leaning back against Kuzy as he lights the joint.

They settle together, the breeze blowing cool from the ocean, wrapped up together for the first time. Once Marcus gets the joint lit, he takes a drag himself, then holds it up for Kuzy, who leans forward and pulls without moving his arms from around Marcus. Nice. He’s warm, and it’s comfortable. Why didn’t they do this before?

After, they drift back into the house and Marcus perches himself on the counter with a bag of Doritos, which he is graciously sharing with Kuzy even though they are definitely Marcus’s Doritos. In return, Kuzy leans his forearms on Marcus’s thighs and leans in and kisses him, soft, and slow.

Nicke wanders into the kitchen for another beer, then.

“Gross,” he says, looking at them.

“You don’t live here,” Marcus says. “You can go home.”

“He interrupt first time I’m kiss you,” Kuzy says, looking at Nicke, frowning. Marcus rests his arms around Kuzy’s shoulders, the Doritos bag hanging from his fingers.

“Yeah, Nicke, terrible timing bro,” Marcus says.

“The first time?” Nicke asks, frowning at them.

“Go away and you not interrupt the second,” Kuzy says.

Nicke goes, but not before he steals the chips.


End file.
